Chapter Eighteen
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
I yawned and stretched. Then I was startled by the fact that I could stretch. My eyes jerked open, and I was surprised to find myself in my bed. I was also dressed in clean pajamas. My head was ringing, and it felt like there was a tiny person in my skull trying to kick their way out wearing steel-toed boots. Going back to sleep was tempting, but I was way too curious to discover the identity of the hygiene fairy that must have visited me today—or was it yesterday? I had no idea how long I’d been asleep. Also, my phone was missing.
There was a pitcher of water and two Advil on my bedside table. So I popped the pills and downed a glass of water before I stumbled downstairs.
The unmistakable sound of laughter emanated from the first floor as I approached the stairs. The closer I got, the more familiar the voices sounded, and I couldn’t stop myself from bounding down the stairs and into the kitchen.
The sight that greeted me knocked the breath out of my lungs and I had to lean against the doorframe to support my weight as I stared in disbelief.
“There she is!” Becks turned to face me.
“Well, hello, Sleeping Beauty! And no, your eyes are not deceiving you. Maxima Clarke is on a farm,” Max said, making the kitchen erupt in laughter.
“How?” was all I could say.
“I called them,” Erica said. “I thought you could use some backup—or hell, I could.” She turned away from the counter, holding a steaming mug of coffee, and set it down on the table in front of an empty chair.
“Well, get your ass in here and sit down,” Max called. I swallowed the lump in my throat and nodded.
“What are you all doing here?” I asked after I took my first sip of coffee and the shock of seeing my three best friends all together in my kitchen wore off.
“Did you think I wasn’t gonna come after you called me crying last week?”
“But…” I stammered, still confused.
“I came over yesterday to check on you and found you passed out on the couch wearing the same pajamas you’d had on the last time I saw you, so I called them.”
“Did you brush my teeth?” I asked.
“Guilty,” she conceded.
“Now that’s a friend,” Max quipped and brought her mug to her lips, making me chuckle.
“Once I got you into bed, I used your face to open your phone and call Maxima and Rebecca and told them that you needed them.”
“I did. I do.” I nodded and felt tears stinging my eyes. “I can’t believe you’re really here.”
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me about you and Teddy,” Rebecca said and wrapped her arms around my shoulders. “I assumed you were taking a break, but how long has it been this bad?”
“Well, he’s never been this bad, but our relationship has been in trouble for a while.” I gave her a guilty smile. “I guess I kept it from you because you just seemed so invested in our relationship. I didn’t want to disappoint you… any of you.” I looked around the table. “I just felt so much pressure to be perfect.”
“Em, we were best friends before you met Teddy, and we’ll always be best friends.”
“We are five years deep. You’re never getting rid of me,” Max added. “And I never liked Teddy’s ass anyway.”
“And I’ve gotten to know you over these past three months and can tell you that you’re kind of impossible not to like,” Erica added.
“Isn’t she?” Max agreed.
“She kinda grows on you,” Becks chimed in.
“Like mold,” Erica said, making the four of us burst into laughter.
“Thanks.” I chuckled. “That does make me feel better.”
“Well, this is beautiful and all”—Erica rose from the table—“but we’ve been waiting for you to wake up to eat, and I can’t speak for anyone else, but I’m hungry.” She began pulling groceries out of two large paper bags on the counter.
“I’ll help you cook.” Becks rose from the table and began pulling pots and pans out of the cabinets.
“I’ll make some iced tea.” I tried to join the other women fluttering around the kitchen like hummingbirds before I was sent back to the table.
“I don’t cook, but will offer moral support,” Max said with a laugh.
“You paid for the groceries,” Erica called over her shoulder. “You did your part.”
We spent the rest of the morning talking, laughing, and eating the best meal I’d had since the Harvest Festival, made even better by the presence of my best friends. They were three women who’d never met each other but were willing to drop everything and come together like the Avengers when I needed help. I had no idea what I’d done right in my life to deserve friends like Erica, Max, and Becks, but I was so grateful to have them. My future was still dark and uncertain, but the presence of my friends was a bright spot that I would cherish.
“Emma.” Max clapped her hands in front of my face, pulling me out of my thoughts. “If you start crying again, I’m gonna slap you.” I let out an involuntary chuckle that sounded like a snort. “Because if you start crying, then I’m gonna start crying, and this is limited edition Chantecaille mascara.”
The afternoon found the four of us full, laughing, and sprawled out on the living room floor. I spent the afternoon telling them every detail of the past three months, at Becks and Max’s insistence on not skipping over any of the scintillating details of my relationship with Dan.
“He sounds amazing, Em,” Becks said. “And just what you need.”
“He was,” I said with a little tinge of sadness. “But that’s over, I guess.”
“I don’t think so,” Erica said, reentering the living room with a bowl of chips and setting it on the floor. “I’ve known Dan for years. He was always sweet, kind, and generous. He bonded with Melissa right away. Your grandparents loved him like a grandson, but he always had this dark cloud over him. It was like a sadness that no one could break through… until he met you.”
Erica’s words made me tear up. I was overcome with a mixture of sadness and hope.
“Did you know Dan had an IG account?” Max said, holding her phone out.
“No.” I grabbed the phone from her hand and stared at the screen. He did have an account, and predictably, it was filled with photos of plants. There were a few newer ones, a few from the wedding. My heart clenched to see how handsome he looked. He was dressed in an outfit similar to the one he’d worn to the will reading, but it was emerald green and accented with a matching vest embroidered with gold vines. He’d also gotten a fresh haircut, igniting a pang of longing and jealousy making me quickly scroll to the next photo. It was an empty row of marble chess tables in a rainy park. The caption was two emojis: a chess pawn and a crown. My eyes stung with tears, and I quickly blinked them away.
I wondered if I was imagining things or if he was trying to send me a message.
“Emma, you really should have told us all of this sooner.” Becks reached out and squeezed my thigh. “How could you let it get so bad?”
“I don’t know.” I shook my head. “I just thought I could handle it.”
“Oh, yeah.” Erica laughed. “You were handling it, all right.”
“Was she like this as a little kid?” Becks asked Erica.
“You know, come to think of it, she was!” Erica laughed. “She always had to be in charge and never asked for help.”
“Exactly,” Max agreed. “You have the brains and the skills to back it up, baby girl, but sometimes you have to let people help you.”
“Well, I’m glad you’re here now, but I don’t think there’s any help for my situation.” I took another sip of my iced tea, wishing it were something stronger.
“I still can’t believe Teddy is pulling this shit,” Becks said. “I knew he was ambitious, but loco never occurred to me.”
“Me neither.” I shook my head and took another sip of iced tea and followed it up with another mouthful of Doritos.
“He’s like a little boy unwilling to let go of his favorite toy,” Max mused.
“I wish we could tell him that the farm is spicy.” Becks laughed and shoved a chip in her mouth.
“What?” Max asked.
“When I have snacks that I don’t want my kids to have,” Becks began with a mouthful of food, “I just tell them it’s too spicy for them to eat and then they don’t want it anymore.”
“Yeah,” Erica said. “That used to work on Melissa. I miss those days,” she said with a wistful sigh.
“Wait.” I sat up and turned to Rebecca. “That could work.”
“What could work? Telling Preston and Teddy that the farm is spicy?”
“Wait. Wait. Wait.” Max put her hand up for emphasis, wearing a huge grin. “I am definitely picking up what you’re putting down. You’re a fucking genius.”
“Well, could someone hand some of it to me? Because I’m confused,” Erica said, pursing her lips. The four of us laughed.
“I’m pretty sure I’ve figured out a way to fix this.”
“Emma, are you serious?” Erica gave me a stern look.
“I’m dead serious. This could definitely work, but…” I took a deep breath, smiled, and looked into the faces of my three best friends. “I’m gonna need your help to pull it off.”
“Emma Walters asking for help.” Rebecca gave me a sarcastic look and shook her head. “I never thought I’d see the day.”
“Well, it’s about damn time,” Max chimed in. “Shit, I should’ve recorded that,” she added.
“I think we should have T-shirts made,” Erica added.
“Okay, are y’all finished?” I asked with a chuckle. They all nodded. “Here’s my plan…”
“I don’t know what the hell we’re doing here,” an older woman grumbled without even bothering to lower her voice. “Why should we listen to anything that child has to say? She’s been nothing but trouble since she got here, and this is the final straw.”
“We’re here, Louise,” Erica shouted, effectively silencing the woman, “because Emma here has a chance to save the town.”
“And how do we know we can trust her?” a man called from the back of the diner. “All of this mess started when she got here.”
“Mm-hmm. That’s right,” added another voice.
“And I heard she was engaged to this Teddy fellow the whole time she was running around town with our poor Dan.”
“Yup,” the woman sitting next to her said, “and that’s why he left.”
“Are you sure you wanna help these people?” Maxima leaned over and whispered to me, “’cause we can leave right now.” I shot her a nervous smile and turned my attention back to the crowd.
“Okay, okay!” I put my hands up. “First of all, this is none of your business, but Teddy and I broke up before I moved here. That is not why Dan left; he’s in London for a family wedding. So now that that’s out of the way, I have something that I want to say… I’m sorry.” An unnatural hush fell over the crowd at Greenie’s.
“I’ve had a lot of time to think over the past week. I thought about my life—both the life I left behind in Atlanta and the life I’ve built here. This town will be my legacy. I was always meant to be here and always meant to protect it. I’m going to make a lot of mistakes, and I’m still learning. I know that I’m not your favorite person right now, but over the past three months, you have made me a part of your family.” I felt like I was rambling. I took a deep breath and looked into the booth filled with my three best friends. Becks gave me an encouraging nod, Max held up her fist, and Erica mouthed the words You got this .
“The truth is, I don’t like asking for help. I usually don’t have to. I’m smart, I’m not afraid of hard work, and I love to solve problems, especially for other people.”
“Just like her mother,” Erica’s mom whispered loudly.
“But I’m especially good at ignoring my own problems, being stubborn, and refusing to ask for help when I need it.”
“Exactly like her mother.”
“Okay, Mom,” Erica chided.
“As many or all of you know, my grandfather loved the game of chess. He taught it to me when I was a child, and one of the few lessons that I remember clearly is that the queen may be the most powerful piece on the board, but she can’t win the game without help from the other pieces.” I took a break because my eyes were stinging with tears. Erica stood behind me and squeezed my shoulders for support. “I’m so sorry that I brought the problems from my life here, but I love this town, and I want to save it. To do that, I’m gonna need your help. Will you help me?”
The crowd in Greenie’s was silent for a few moments before Louise stood up and looked directly at me.
“Yes, we’re mad at you, but we still love you. You’re part of this town and a part of this family. We will always help and support you, but you can’t pretend that you can do everything on your own. Now, what is this plan of yours?”